It was not external, but lay deep within him. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken to title. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion – to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.
His father, Unoka, was a well-known for his laziness in the village. He was the root of Okonkwo’s embarrassment. Since his childhood, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, who, “In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (04). In the standard of his clan, Unoka was a coward, lazy, and wastrel man who spent money wastefully. When he was a child, a boy once called Okonkwo’s father an Agbala, witch means “a woman” as well as a man who has no title.
He is afraid to show affection, as seen with Ezinma and Ikemefuna. In fact, he is so “possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life” (Achebe 18), that he does not heed Ezeudu’s advice regarding the death of Ikemefuna. Okonkwo is afraid of looking weak, so he kills Ikemefuna himself. His deep seated fear of resembling his father is stronger than even love for his adopted son. Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by […] fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13), and while this initially aids him in his success, it is also the precise reason for all his immoral actions.
Throughout this essay, James Baldwin continued make references to life and death, blacks and whites, and love and hate. In the beginning of the essay, the writer described the relationships between he and his father. His father did not trust anyone because of his bitter past that hunted him. His father is portrayed as a skeptical as he could not open and trust anyone especially white people. This made the reader wondering about what white people did to Baldwin’s father until he hated all white people.
No one wants to be seen as weak or a failure and be taken advantage of, that’s why people have their guards up. Things Fall Apart tells a story of a stubborn man (Okonkwo) responding to change. In Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart, he reveals Okonkwo’s fear of failure and of weakness. Okonkwo, with a deep insecurity of being like his father, known to be a poor, unsuccessful man and a failure in his society, gives his best to be successful and nothing else. Okonkwo passionately works hard to be at the top as a respected man (which he achieves) and the complete opposite of his disappointing father.
He instead spent his time trying to bum money off other people in the village, well aware he would not be able to repay them. Okonkwo lives his whole life with the fear of becoming his father’s equal, so as a young man, he began building his status in the community by becoming a very strong and very great warrior. He is very hard working and doesn’t show signs of weakness to those around him. Okonkwo worked hard to gain his social status and is looked at as one of the leaders of his village. Unoka’s personality and way of living can be related to feminism, a trait that Okonkwo also shows narrow-mindedness towards.
Every time Chief witnessed his father drinking, he did not see his father “suck out of it, it sucked out of him” (Kesey 189). This made him lose faith not only in the power of his father, but himself as well. Given that Randle Patrick McMurphy, a fellow patient, helped Chief bring himself back to his tall and powerful self, it is clear why he would be biased towards McMurphy. Chief’s time on the ward had become so traumatic to him; he believed that the ward was “a factory for the
His parents actions when he was young left him with the idea that love and relationships are horrible and all it does is hurt us, he felt as if it’s not worth going through the pain and stress. He only saw the bad sides of love, and because of that, he kept himself from everyone; he never realised the good sides of love until later on in his life. Another main contrast between the two poems, is guilt. In both poems the poets both feel guilt, but in different ways. Harrison, who had a good and loving family life, felt guilty about the way he treated his father when mourning.
While Being interrogated his father showed resolve by not giving up his riches, and eventually dying with integrity. Smith puts great importance to his dad, and reveres him as a man of great character. As a young boy Smith’s innocence was stolen, when he saw his father being tortured and killed. The horrors of these events shaped him to become more rebellious of his masters later in life. At this malleable age Smith saw the bravery in which his father fought.
But what the villagers do not know is that he never wanted to kills his son. In fact, he feels horrible about it. Okonkwo falls into a deep depression some days after Ikemefuna’s death. Okonkwo and Unoka are truly polar opposites. However, just like his father, Okonkwo is always at odds with the values of the people of the village.